Thoughts by Dr. Steven Bruns

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Rocket Surgery

There are so many people today who are writing about how to grow and/or revitalize the church that it is almost overwhelming. If you read the materials out there, it is a confusing web of trying to balance having the right programs, the right staff to implement the right programs, the right facilities to house the right staff to implement the right programs, the right location for the right facilities to house the right staff to implement the right programs (that Jack built!).

Really, when we get down to it, it is not rocket surgery. The church will become healthy and grow when its people love each other and offer grace to each other. Then, when Christians are living in this manner, members of individual congregations invite someone to attend church with them. It’s that simple. Love each other and invite others.

If every person in a particular congregation invited one person that joined the church over the course of a year, that congregation just doubled in size. If they do the same the following year, it quadrupled. The next year–octupled. The year after that–16 fold increase. To put numbers to this, the median size of Protestant congregations in America is 75 in attendance on a typical Sunday. If everyone invited on person that “stuck,” the following year that congregation would have 150. The year after that, 300. The next year would be 600. And so on.